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Man gets 8 years for beating friend to death
Arnold Philip Harper (HANDOUT)
A Winnipeg man has been sentenced to eight years in prison for beating his friend to death during a May long weekend drinking party at a downtown hotel.
Arnold Harper, 33, pleaded guilty to manslaughter Wednesday for last year’s killing inside the St. Regis Hotel. Leslie Okemow, 29, suffered extensive head trauma as a result of the attack.
"I am deeply sorry. He was a friend of mine. I don’t know how this happened," a tearful Harper told court.
Defence lawyer John Corona said the case is yet another example of the impact alcohol has on society. In this case, a large gathering of people from several remote First Nations was booked in Winnipeg and ended in death.
"I don’t think it’s a stretch to say but for the drinking this wouldn’t have happened," said Corona. "We’re here on yet another tragic alcohol-related death. Sometimes I just shake my head."
Crown attorney Tim Chudy said it’s unclear why an argument erupted between Harper and Okemow, as everyone in the hotel suite at the time was either passed out or too intoxicated to remember the details.
"The fight was one-sided. Mr. Harper absolutely got the better of it," said Chudy.
Okemow’s body was found the following morning by a female housekeeper who didn’t initially realize he was dead, court was told. Okemow was slumped in a chair, covered in blood. Harper and the others apparently continued partying in another area of the hotel, oblivious to the fact Okemow’s life was slipping away.
Both men involved in the case have tragic histories.
Harper grew up in a home "rife with alcoholism" and was both physically and sexually abused as a child in Red Sucker Lake, according to his lawyer. Harper bounced around more than a dozen different foster homes and is now the father of three young children himself.
Okemow’s family was also no stranger to death. He had moved to Winnipeg from Gods Lake Narrows only weeks earlier after his brother, George Okemow, was killed in a house fire on New Year's Day in 2010 that investigators ruled was arson.
Okemow was survived by three children in Gods Lake, located about 600 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.
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